Review: Still Special after all these years

By Jon Pompia The Pueblo Chieftain

Monday

Sep 2, 2019 at 1:21 PM

Inside a Southwest Motors Events Center electric with atmosphere, 7,000 guests who exchanged $20 worth of lottery tickets for the right to see a genuine Southern Rock giant came away feeling like they hit the big one.

Sponsored by The Colorado Lottery, Sunday's 38 Special's performance — the final in the 2019 Colorado State Fair entertainment package — was one for the ages: an impactful tour-de-force through ageless songs known, and sung along to, by young and old alike.

With co-founder Donnie Van Zant having retired in 2013 due to health issues, Don Barnes continues to fly the flag first planted 45 years ago in the fertile Florida soil that also sprouted Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Outlaws, Molly Hatchet and other legendary Southern Rock acts.

Now 66, Barnes proved himself to be as strong-voiced and energetic as ever, handling lead vocals with the same experienced ease he does rhythm and lead guitar.

The show opened the only way it could: a hard-charging "Rockin' Into The Night," with Barnes sounding exactly as he did on that platter now four decades old.

More gritty guitar-driven greatness followed in the form of "Rough Housin'" "Chain Lightning" and the autobiographical "Wild-Eyed Southern Boys," a signature tune for Barnes and his four Special cohorts.

For a long-haired — at least back in the day — grizzled Southern Rock collective, 38 Special never skimped on melody and memorability: a fact that enabled the band to extend its reach far beyond the limits of "classic rock."

This was most evident in the songs that have endured long enough to be considered standards: "Back Where You Belong," "Caught Up in You," "If I'd Been the One," "Fantasy Girl," "Like No Other Night" and the immortal "Hold on Loosely," reserved for a flagship spot in the encore.

It's that number, from 1981, that has come to define the band, and to little surprise, generated the most spirited response.

On the more tender side of things, the lush ballad "Second Chance," the 1989 single that became the band's highest-charting hit, was commendably delivered by keyboardist Bobby Capps. And a pair of covers — Chicago's fantastic "Feelin' Sronger Every Day" and the Easybeats' lost classic "Good Times" — were welcome surprises.

The 90-minute show ended the only way it could, with a raucous cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Traveling Band," an accurate summation of 38 Special's career if there ever was one.

"Thank you for taking the ride through the years with us," Barnes said with a big smile. "You still remember? It's just like it was yesterday."

One superfan who never forgets is Pueblo native Tim Piganelli.

Thirty eight years ago nearly to the day, a 20-year-old Piganelli waited for hours in a hot sun for the right to be up close and personal when 38 Special took the stage at the Fair's Grandstands.

His dedication was duly noted in a July 1981 Pueblo Chieftain article, which included a picture of the shirtless and sunglasses-wearing Piganelli up against a railing, a throng of fans in the rear, looking none too comfortable.

On Sunday, the Phoenix resident found the accommodations much more pleasant, but just as memorable.

After a Pueblo Chieftain article highlighting Piganelli's return to his hometown 38 years later for Sunday's show came to Barnes' attention, the band manager tracked down Piganelli and invited him to meet the band.

Along with his brother Jon, who also attended the 1981 concert, Piganelli posed for a photograph with the band backstage and also received Barnes' autograph on a copy of the 1981 Chieftain article.

Post-show, Piganelli — who by the end of the year will have seen 38 Special 20 times — was gifted with a promotional photo signed by all five band members.

"This show was better than the one in 1981 because the technology and the sound are much better," Piganelli said. "The band is different: Donnie Barnes is the only original member left but they have gifted musicians around him. This was a rocking show and Donnie still has it.

"And I didn't have to wait all day in the sun. Back in 1981, I was so close to the stage that I was able to shake hands with Donnie and Van Zant several times throughout the show and, of course, at that age, was star struck. This time out, I wasn't being pushed up against the stage. It was a lot more casual. But then again, we are all old rockers and much more mellow."

jpompia@chieftain.com

Twitter: @jpompia

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